[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 100 (Monday, June 15, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2795-S2796]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                                  DACA

  Ms. CORTEZ MASTO. Mr. President, I am joining my colleagues on the 
Senate floor because today marks the 14th anniversary of the Deferred 
Action for Childhood Arrivals Program that we all commonly know as 
DACA.
  When it was created by President Obama back in 2012, the purpose of 
this program was to protect people who came to the United States as 
children. But President Obama made clear that legislation was also 
needed. He knew that Congress needed to pass legislation to give 
Dreamers a path to citizenship, along with DACA.
  There was bipartisan support for it, but unfortunately, since that 
time, petty politics keep getting in the way. It is having real life 
consequences on the country, on families, on individuals, and on 
businesses. Because we are unable to work in a bipartisan way just to 
put Dreamers and their families on a pathway to citizenship, we are 
here to talk about a program, DACA. It is important for us to keep in 
mind why we strive not only to continue this program but to fight for 
these families.
  DACA has become a lifeline for hard-working, inspiring young people 
who have only ever known this country as their home.
  And make no mistake, DACA is not given out freely. You just heard my 
colleague from Minnesota talk about this. DACA recipients, these 
applicants, undergo intense background checks, and every 2 years, they 
have to renew their status and go through another scrutinizing 
background check.
  For the past 14 years, DACA has worked as intended. It has allowed 
thousands of young people to obtain work permits, and critical 
protections from deportations are associated with this program because 
these kids have only known this country and play by the rules and 
follow the law and just want to go to school and be a part of our 
workforce and raise their families here. They want an education. They 
want to build their careers and their lives in the United States.
  The DACA Program has been an overwhelming benefit to our country. 
Ninety-nine percent of the DACA recipients who started the program in 
2012 completed high school and got their diplomas--almost every single 
one. That is the kind of dedication you find in Dreamers.
  Additionally, more than 90 percent of DACA recipients over the age of 
25 are participating in our workforce, they are building families, they 
are working hard, and they are paying more than $2 billion in State and 
local taxes. And they love this country. They feel as American as every 
Member of this Chamber.
  Yet, over the past 14 years, they have endured attack after attack 
and been made into pawns by too many politicians. Even still, through 
it all, I have to tell you, they are thriving, and they are building an 
American dream. And that is all they are asking from us, is to allow 
them to continue to do so. But, right now, our country is breaking its 
promise to them.

  Now, like my colleague Dick Durbin, the senior Senator from Illinois, 
who has done an incredible job fighting for our Dreamers and their 
families--I watch him as he comes to the floor. I have watched him as 
he has talked about Dreamers and their families and the fight. And I 
think it is important we keep our voices loud and proud about who they 
are in our communities. I, too, have stood here on the Senate floor, 
multiple times now, over the course of the last several months, to talk 
about this.
  This administration is intentionally delaying DACA renewals so DACA 
recipients go unprotected.
  Let me just say that one more time. I get these calls into my office. 
I know the DACA recipients and Dreamers in my State. I hear from them 
all the time. This administration is intentionally delaying DACA 
renewals so DACA recipients go unprotected.
  How do I know that? Because DACA recipients have told me. In my 
State, they have been applying months ahead of their 2-year deadline--
months ahead of that 2-year deadline--but for many, that is still not 
enough time before their status expires. This expiration and this delay 
of approving their application, it is all part of this administration's 
plan to attack and undermine immigration and these DACA recipients.
  Now, I want to be clear about something: We all agree that we need 
strong border security and that criminals need to face justice. Listen, 
I spent my career doing just that. There is no question about it.
  But instead of focusing on the ``worst of the worst,'' like President 
Trump promised to do, he and Stephen Miller are directing Federal 
immigration enforcement to go after DACA recipients--mothers, fathers, 
sisters, and brothers--with absolutely no criminal record.
  Why? Because they had the audacity to be brought here as children, 
because they have only ever known this country as their home.
  Why, instead of going after actual criminals, is this administration 
focused on young men and women who are woven into the fabric of their 
communities?
  I think I know why. It is because DACA recipients look a little 
different or sound a little different from what the Trump 
administration has decided are real Americans and what they should 
sound like and look like. It is because DACA recipients' shining 
successes prove that immigrants are actually a benefit to the United 
States, not a detriment, as this administration would have you believe.
  The actions of this administration to delay DACA renewals are about 
as un-American as you can get.
  I have been hearing and sharing stories of DACA recipients who have 
struggled with these delays, but I don't think people really understand 
the toll this is taking on thousands of families across the country.
  When someone's DACA status expires, they lose their work permit. Some 
workers are placed on leave until their status gets renewed, but some 
permanently lose their jobs. That means a source of income a family 
relies on is now gone. That is why they apply for the renewal months in 
advance, so they can continue to go to their job, so they can continue 
to pay taxes, be a part of our community, pay rent. And they believe in 
that community.
  If they had U.S. citizen children, critical support for them now is 
gone because of the delays by this administration. If they had 
employer-sponsored healthcare, now that is gone too. And if they 
didn't, then healthcare is even harder to afford for them because they 
lost their work permit. And the only thing they did was have the 
audacity to apply for renewal months in advance.
  It is now more difficult for them to take care of disabled, elderly, 
or sick relatives, not to mention that there is the constant threat of 
being sent away from their family to a country they have never known 
hanging over their heads.
  That is all piled on top of the enormously high costs of groceries, 
gas, electricity, and healthcare that all Americans are experiencing 
under this administration.
  So imagine being a DACA recipient who has lived your whole life in 
this country, except for a few years, when you were a baby. For over a 
decade, your government has told you that if you play by the rules and 
you contribute, you will be able to work and be protected from 
deportation.
  So you go to school, you get a job, you play by the rules, you follow 
the law, you meet someone, you settle down, and you start a family, 
like any American would do. And then your government--the same one you 
support with your hard-earned tax dollars--turns on you.
  You know, I don't know about all of you, but that is just 
unacceptable to me.
  DACA recipients are not the only ones being punished. These delays 
are hurting our businesses and our communities as well. I can't stress 
that enough.
  This administration thinks they are going after these individuals, 
and they want to deport them. But it is not individual DACA recipients 
and their families that are suffering. It is our businesses and our 
communities as well.
  A police chief in California was here in Washington, last month, to 
talk to us about how delays in DACA renewals are hurting his police 
department. One of his officers was recently unable to work for a 
while, while he waited for his renewal application to process. Local 
law enforcement is already

[[Page S2796]]

stretched thin. So you should know this. Now, this administration is 
even making it worse.
  Small businesses, retailers, construction companies, they are all 
losing their employees they depend on. How do I know? Because I hear 
from my small businesses in Nevada about this very issue.
  Approximately 37,000 healthcare workers are DACA recipients. Now, if 
they can't go to their job, what do you think that does to our 
healthcare industry, which is already stretched because of the policies 
of this administration?
  Hurting DACA recipients is hurting our country. It is more important 
than ever that we recognize the fact that, in light of the upcoming 
celebrations for America's 250th birthday, we have to recognize our 
contributions and our service to the members in our country who are a 
big part of it. Our 250th anniversary is a critical reminder that our 
great Nation only exists because of immigrants. We all have a story. We 
all have it--every single one of us. I do.
  My grandfather came from Chihuahua, Mexico. He came into the United 
States, served in our military, and became a U.S. citizen. I have a 
great-grandfather who came to Ellis Island from Italy. He ended up in 
Kansas City, MO, of all places, raising his family, where my mother was 
born. We all have this story. That is what makes this country so great. 
That is why people come here.
  And it should be that, yes, if you want to come to a country and you 
want to follow the rules--you want to follow the rules--you want to 
follow the law, work hard, you should be able to come here and get 
ahead. That is the country I know and love, and to lose sight of that 
is to spit on everything our country stands for.
  The Declaration of Independence was written because immigrants and 
sons of immigrants, daughters of immigrants, grandsons, granddaughters 
of immigrants came together to escape tyranny and live their lives 
freely.
  Every time I walk on the floor of the Senate, I think about my 
grandfather and my great-grandfather coming to this country. If they 
would have ever thought that one day they would have a granddaughter or 
a great-granddaughter that would walk on the floor of the U.S. Senate 
representing this country, it is beyond what they could have ever 
dreamed for. But they hoped. They had hoped for a life better for their 
children and grandchildren.
  And DACA recipients are asking for the same freedoms and 
opportunities that our Founding Fathers envisioned for this country 250 
years ago.
  And I will say: It is time we stand with them. It is time we do right 
and we recognize the importance of those words in our Constitution, 
what our Founding Fathers stood for, how we stood on shoulders of 
others to get here. And those shoulders were immigrants.
  We don't pull up the ladder behind us, but we make sure everybody has 
an opportunity to be a part of this beautiful country.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut.

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